


Crime and Punishment

by teej_318



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), Shazam! (2019), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Billy Batson loves Freddy Freeman, Domestic Violence, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak and Freddy Freeman are twins, Freddy Freeman loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Friendship, Good sibling Freddy Freeman, Healing, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Protective Freddy Freeman, Protective Mike Wheeler, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier and Mike Wheeler Are Twins, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak, Soft Richie Tozier, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:01:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22960621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teej_318/pseuds/teej_318
Summary: Richie discovers a dark secret that Eddie has been hiding. Eddie's twin Freddy and Freddy's husband Billy work to get justice for Eddie, but they'll need help from Richie's twin Mike and Mike's husband Will.
Relationships: Billy Batson/Freddy Freeman, Eddie Kaspbrak & Freddy Freeman, Eddie Kaspbrak/Original Male Character(s), Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Kudos: 13





	Crime and Punishment

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for mentions of domestic violence.

Richie walked into the living room of Billy and Freddy’s house.

“Hey, Freddy Weddy,” Richie said when he saw Freddy sitting on the couch watching TV. “Is Eddie Spaghetti here?”

“Yeah, he’s upstairs changing,” Freddy replied, not acknowledging the nickname Richie had given him. “We’re going out for a bite if you wanna join us.”

“You read my mind, Fredward!” Richie said happily. “Well I guess if we’re going out, I’d better go get my good jacket. I left it in the bedroom when I stayed over the other day.”

“Hey, you stay out of that bathroom! Eddie doesn’t need you traumatizing him while he’s trying to change.’

“Freddy, I would never!”

Richie turned and hurried up the stairs to the guest bedroom. He found his jacket resting on the chair at the desk and picked it up. He was suddenly hit with a full bladder and crossed the hallway to use the bathroom in the master bedroom. He opened the bedroom door and saw Eddie, who quickly moved to not be seen.

“Close the door! Close the door!” Eddie shouted.

Richie was taken aback by Eddie’s tone and by what he saw on Eddie’s body. He felt his stomach twist up in knots and suddenly a thousand questions started running through his mind. He shut the door before he turned around and went back downstairs. Freddy was still sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Freddy, what happened to Eddie?” Richie asked.

“Well, some say environment, but I think he was born that way,” Freddy replied with an air of sarcasm.

Normally, Richie would have burst out laughing at Freddy poking fun at Eddie, but the sight he had met upstairs made him feel uncomfortable. 

“No, I mean he’s got bruises all over his back. Did he get hurt or something?”

Freddy looked up from the TV. Concern was written all over his face.

“He didn’t say anything to me about it,” Freddy said. “How bad was it?”

“I don’t know, he just yelled at me to shut the door, so I did and came back downstairs.

“What in god’s name happened?” Freddy asked, turning off the TV. 

Just then, Eddie came walking down the stairs. He looked relatively normal to Richie, but it looked as though Eddie was in a bit of pain from the bruises Richie had seen. 

“Didn’t mean to yell at you, Rich, but you scared the hell out of me opening the door like that,” Eddie said with a grin that looked forced to Richie. “You ready to go?” Eddie asked Freddy as he walked behind the sofa.

“Are you okay?” Freddy asked.

“Yeah,” Eddie replied nonchalantly. “You ready to go?”

“Come here,” Freddy demanded as he stood up.

“What?”

“Richie said your back’s all bruised up.”

“No,” Eddie said, his eyes widening slightly. “It’s nothing.” 

“Let me see,” Freddy said, reaching to lift up Eddie’s shirt.

“No,” Eddie said, trying to push Freddy’s hand away.

Freddy ignored Eddie and kept trying to lift his twin’s shirt. When he did, Eddie groaned in pain and Freddy’s eyes widened in shock.

“Richie, can you give us a minute, please?” Freddy asked.

Richie frowned.

“What’s going on?”

“Please, Richie,” Freddy said in a more demanding tone.

“Okay, take as long as you need,” Richie said, his heart beating fast as he walked back upstairs.He felt even more uneasy at Freddy’s request as a million different scenarios of Eddie getting hurt ran through his mind. Richie felt his heart rate picking up, so he started to work on his breathing to calm himself down. Once his breathing had evened out again, Richie pulled out his phone and called his twin.

“Yeah, Richie?” Mike said when he answered the phone.

“Hey, Mike,” Richie said, his voice devoid of any humor. “Has Eddie said anything to you about him getting hurt or something?”

“No, no, why? Did something happen?” Mike asked. 

“I don’t know. I walked in on him changing and I saw some bruises on his back. He yelled at me to shut the door and he was trying to hide the bruises from Freddy. I don’t know what to think, Mike.”

“Well, what happened? Is he okay?”

“Freddy sent me upstairs while he talks to Eddie. Mike, I’m scared that Eddie was attacked or mugged.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Rich. Freddy will find out what happened and he’ll take care of it. He’s always been great about helping Eddie when he’s in need.”

“I just feel like Eddie could have told me something,” Richie said. “I feel like he doesn’t trust me.”

“Richie, you know that’s not true,” Mike said in a soft voice. “Eddie would trust you with his life. Maybe it’s just something that’s hard for him to talk about. He’ll come around, Richie, I promise.”

“Thanks, Mike.”

* * *

Freddy and Eddie waited until Richie was out of earshot before either of them spoke again. 

“Look, I’m all right so don’t go blowing this up into something it’s not, okay?” Eddie said as he turned to walk into the kitchen.

Freddy followed him quickly.

“What happened?” Freddy demanded.

“Nothing, let’s go.”

“No! We’re not going anywhere until you tell me what happened to you.”

“I told you I’m okay,” Eddie said, his voice starting to rise slightly. 

“You come over here, your back is all bruised up, you won’t tell me anything about it. How do I know you didn’t get raped or mugged or something? Does Cody know about this?”

Eddie was quiet while he put on his jacket.

“Why...why can’t you just drop it?” Eddie asked.

Eddie felt his heart drop as he watched realization dawn on Freddy’s face.

“That son of a bitch!”

“You don’t understand.”

“He beat the crap out of you!” Freddy seethed. 

“No, he didn’t. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s no big deal?” Freddy exclaimed, incredulous. “What are you saying? He hit you. It’s not like he forgot your birthday.”

“Look, we had an argument this afternoon and he pushed me a couple of times. It’s not Cody’s fault.”

“Then whose fault is it? I can’t believe you’re saying this!”

“You don’t even listen to me!” Eddie snapped. “He said he was sorry and it would never happen again.”

“Damn, Eddie, you’ve seen Cops like the rest of us! You’ve heard that same crap a million times. Now you’re throwing it out on me? How could you let this happen to you?”

“Just shut up!” Eddie shrieked, his voice cracking.

Freddy felt his breath hitch for a moment when he realized what he had said to Eddie. But before he could apologize, Eddie kept talking. 

“You don’t know the whole story!” Eddie shouted. “He’s been under a lot of pressure lately. There’s no work and I told him that maybe he should look for a job at a bigger company. And he told me that I didn’t believe in him.” At this, Eddie’s voice started to crack and tears were forming in his eyes. “And he told me a million times when he gets in a mood like that, that I should just walk away and I didn’t!”

Eddie was full on crying now. Freddy felt his heart break in half and a cold chill went down his spine as Eddie finally told him the truth. 

“I just kept pushing him and pushing him!” Eddie said as he started to sob.

Freddy pulled Eddie toward him gently and wrapped his arms around Eddie.

“Don’t say anymore.”

Freddy held onto Eddie gently as his twin sobbed into his shoulders. As they stood there, a set of footsteps came walking into the room. Freddy didn’t have to turn around to know it was Billy.

“What happened?” Billy asked when he saw Freddy and Eddie.

Billy lifted his head from Eddie’s shoulder so Billy could hear him.

“Cody beat the crap out of him.”

“What?” Billy asked, his face going white.

“I’m all right,” Eddie said. “I just...I don’t want anybody to know about it!” he said before he dissolved into fresh tears and buried himself in Freddy’s embrace again.

“Is he really okay?” Billy asked in a gentle voice as he approached the twins.

“Yeah,” Freddy answered as he broke the hug. “Come on, we’re gonna go wash your face,” he said quietly to Eddie as he wrapped an arm around Eddie’s shoulder. He led Eddie through the kitchen and briefly locked eyes with Billy before they disappeared into the bathroom. 

Billy watched the twins disappear and he took a deep breath before he turned around and walked out the back door, silently grabbing his jacket on the coat rack.

* * *

Freddy walked into the living room holding a mug of tea. Eddie was sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around him. It had been about 45 minutes since Eddie had confessed what had happened. Though they were over the main hurdle, they both knew the situation was far from over. 

“Hey, how you feeling?” Freddy said when he reached the sofa and handed Eddie the mug of tea.

“Oh, thank you,” Eddie replied. “I’m all right. I guess I just feel better that I’ve told someone, even if it is humiliating.”

“Eddie, you have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s Cody who ought to be ashamed. Frankly, he’s lucky I’m not over there giving him a piece of my mind.”

“I appreciate you not killing him on my behalf, Freddy. I mean, you’re my brother and I love you and all, but hey if you commit murder, you’re on your own.”

Both twins chuckled heartily at this before Eddie took a few sips of tea.

“Well, I definitely think we should go to the hospital and have you checked out, you know, just in case,” Freddy said.

Eddie grimaced. 

“It’s too humiliating, Freddy. They’ll ask all kinds of questions. I don’t want everybody talking about it.”

“Well, we can go to the hospital over in the next town. Nobody knows us there. We can pretend to be different people. Like, I can be Richie and you can be Will.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, Eddie, it’s just to be on the safe side. I want to make sure you’re really okay.”

“All right, all right,” Eddie said, groaning as he lifted himself off the couch and the blanket fell off of him. “I better go tell Richie that we’re gonna leave him here.”

Just then, Billy came walking through the front door, carrying a bucket full of KFC chicken.

“Hey, where’ve you been?” Eddie asked as he walked over to the stairs.

“Oh, I was feeling hungry so I went and got some chicken,” Billy replied as he set the chicken down on the table. “You guys have some too.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Oh yeah, but I already ate my share,” Billy said. Freddy couldn’t help but notice one of Billy’s hands was in his coat pocket. “I’m gonna get a drink, you guys want anything?” he asked before he reached the kitchen.

“No, we’re going to go to the hospital, get Eddie checked out.”

“Yeah, we’ll go as soon as I talk to Richie,” Eddie said as he disappeared up the stairs.

“Don’t take too long, Eddie,” Freddy called up the stairs before he followed Billy into the kitchen. “So, did you talk to Cody?”

Freddy gasped when he saw the hand Billy had kept in his pocket was bruised and Billy was attempting to wrap it in ice.

“Oh god, you didn’t kill him and then go get chicken, did you?” Freddy demanded.

“No, I went and grabbed the chicken first.”

“I thought you were just going over there to scare him a little.”

“Well, it started out that way,” Billy replied.

“So what’d he say?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, ‘Ouch, ouch my head.’ Something along those lines.”

“Damn,” Freddy said. “Well you’d better keep that on ice. I don’t want Eddie seeing that. He’s already freaked out as it is.”

“I’m sorry, Freddy, I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand.”

“I know that, Billy,” Freddy said as he bent down and gave Billy a quick kiss on the cheek. “You were just defending Eddie.”

There was a sudden knocking at the door. Billy and Freddy exchanged a glance as they thought about who would be visiting them at this time of night and both knew it probably wasn’t any of their friends. Freddy crossed the living room and opened the front door. Two police officers, including their friend Connor Bowers were standing on the porch.

“Hey, Freddy,” Connor said in a gentle tone. “Can we come in?”

“Well, that depends on what you’re here for,” Freddy replied.

“Freddy, just let them in,” Billy said as he sat down on his recliner in the living room.

Freddy stepped aside so that Connor and his partner could enter the home. Connor briefly acknowledged Billy before Freddy closed the front door.

“Look, I’m sorry that we have to be here,” Connor said. 

“We have a warrant for your arrest, Mr. Batson.” Connor’s partner said.

“We heard the call come over the radio and I told dispatch we’d take care of it,” Connor said. “I’m sorry, Freddy.”

“You can’t take him to jail!” Freddy protested.

“Freddy…” Billy said, trying to get Freddy to stop talking.

“I mean, Eddie came over he and he…”

“Freddy, this is just my thing. Let’s just leave it at that. Nobody else has to get involved.”

“We are going to have to cuff you, Mr. Batson,” Connor’s partner said as he walked over to Billy, who had stood up from his recliner. 

“Is that really necessary?” Freddy asked.

“Hey, cuff me,” Billy said. He turned to Connor. “You get fired, who else is gonna fix my parking tickets?”

Connor chuckled while his partner put handcuffs on Billy.

“Look, Freddy, we’ll hold off on processing Billy as long as we can,” said Connor. “You might want to call Will and have him meet us at the station. He can get Billy released for the night as long as he posts bail. It’ll be around $100.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll call him,” Freddy said as he hurried forward and hugged Billy, which was awkward with Billy’s hands cuffed behind him. He gave Billy a kiss. “You take care and hurry back, okay?”

“You got it,” Billy said. He then started walking toward the front door with Connor’s partner in tow. “All right, I’ll drive.”

Connor opened the front door and led Billy and his partner out of the home. Freddy followed them closely, his hands wrapped around his neck as he watched Billy escorted to the patrol car. Freddy sighed deeply as tears welled up in his eyes from the events of the evening. 

**Author's Note:**

> Well, y'all here's a Stranger Things/It/Shazam crossover for you! If you're wondering, yes, this is based on the Roseanne episode of the same name, with some dialogue lifted from that episode and the basic premise being shared with the Roseanne episode. 
> 
> This story will have at least one more chapter, but I might split it into two chapters because I have several ideas of what I'd like to see happen next and it make take two chapters to do it.
> 
> For the record, Will is an attorney in this story, which is why Connor tells Freddy to call him.
> 
> I know that I've been leaving a lot of stories in progress lately, but my goal for March is to finish those stories while planning for Camp NaNoWriMo in April, during which I plan to write more Byeler, Reddie and Freebat stories. Stay tuned!


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